


The Future is in the Past

by PsychVamp



Category: Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Historical, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, F/M, Falling In Love, Fluff and Angst, Sandor built a time machine, gendrya gift exchange, it caused problems, stuck 160 years in the past
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-14
Updated: 2019-12-14
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:00:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,190
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21786391
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PsychVamp/pseuds/PsychVamp
Summary: Arya never expected to be living 160 years in the past, mostly because time travel was supposed to be a thing of science fiction, but that it what happens to her after she agrees to go along on the test drive of her roommate's time machine car. After meeting the local blacksmith, the future suddenly doesn't seem that great.Gendrya Gift Exchange
Relationships: Arya Stark/Gendry Waters
Comments: 14
Kudos: 98





	The Future is in the Past

**Author's Note:**

  * For [aryasbadbenergy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/aryasbadbenergy/gifts).



> Happy gift exchange!!! Written for the prompt of Time Travel.

The valley was beautiful at sunset, the failing light of the sun made the early autumn leaves glow, everything looked at peace. It was the complete opposite to her mood. They would be leaving in the morning, the repairs on the car turned time had finally been completed. It had only taken them six months but that was rather impressive when the parts they needed for the car wouldn’t be invented for another 100 years. She didn’t want to leave. What did she have waiting for her back in 2019? A job she despised and half a house she used to keep a roof over her head. She hadn’t spoken to her family in years and she doubted they would notice if she simply disappeared. 

Sandor liked to remind her of the reasons she couldn’t stay. All it takes is one thing to deviate from the expected path to drastically alter the future. If she stayed and married the blacksmith, it was altering his future. He would not marry the woman he was supposed to marry, have the kids he was supposed to have her, and so forth down the line. Maybe one of Gendry’s descendants was important to history and if she removed them from the timeline things could be worse. She knew all the consequences, he had been drilling them into her head every day since she started her courtship with the town blacksmith. 

She remembered the first time she saw him so clearly, it still made her heart flutter. 

* * *

Mrs Johnson was strict and Arya was not great at living up to her expectations but she worked as hard as she could. It wasn’t easy suddenly learning how to wash linens in a big tub and scrub everything by hand when you grew up throwing it in a machine. She had used a broom before but never to the extent she was now. Her muscles ached at the end of every day and she’d just collapse into her bed after dinner. She hadn’t talked to Sandor in a few days now because of her exhaustion. Mrs Johnson had taken pity on her and allowed her a few hours off in the afternoon today, but she needed to be back to help with dinner. Arya decided it was best to just say thank you and disappear before the older woman changed her mind. 

The blacksmith shop was on the opposite edge of the town but it wasn’t a very big town, but Mrs Johnson assured her that would change once the mine got fully up at running. She walked through the large open door and into the shop. One entire wall was stone with a built in fire but the rest was set up with different height work tables. The opposite wall of the stone wall help a few empty stalls, and one occupied by a large black horse. There was no one in sight but she heard Sandor's gruff voice coming from the far end of the building. She walked down and pushed open a second door to a small space beyond. 

Sandor and the man she assumed was the blacksmith were standing there, looking over a rough sketch.

“It will be difficult to make something this large and make it light.” The man said, his large frame bent over to point at something on the paper, “What purpose would this serve?”

Sandor groaned, “I told you, it will make sense once it is put together.” His eyes flicked up to her in the doorway, “What do you want?”

“No need to be so hostile Uncle.” She said sweetly before turning to the other man in the room, “Are you the blacksmith?”

He nodded and wiped his hand on his apron before extending his hand, “Gendry Waters ma’am.”

“Arya.” She replied, and smiled at him, “Thank you putting up with him, I know he can be a rude grump.”

“No trouble ma’am. He has interesting ideas, gives me something to do other than making horseshoes and nails.”

She noticed his eyes were a mesmerizing shade of blue, she felt like it would be so easy to get lost in them. 

Sandor broke the moment, “Why are you here? Don’t you have your own work to do?”

“Mrs Johnson gave me a few hours off. I thought I’d come see how your project was coming along.” She explained, looking away from Gendry, but she wished she didn’t have too.

* * *

She had not had a chance to see him again for quite a while, it was hard to get away from the inn. Mrs Johnson was right, more and more people were coming into town now and needed temporary lodgings as they did surveys on the local silver mines for investment. Her next opportunity came during the spring festival. The entire town was getting ready, celebrating the official end of winter and the beginning of the spring planting season. 

She put on the nicer of the two dresses she owned, which she bought after Mrs Johnson told her she could not go to church in rags, and let her hair remain down instead of her usual bun. Sandor had decided to skip out on the party, claiming it would give him the perfect distraction to work on the car. He had no intention to endure himself to anyone in town, only speaking to herself, Gendry, and Mrs Johnson as far she could tell.

Arya had no such problems, she didn’t care how many times he told her to not to get attached to the quaint little mining/farming town, she liked it so much better than its modern day counterpart. She didn’t even miss her phone, which was just a useless pile of plastic that was still in the equally useless car. 

She greeted the women serving the meal, which was made up of delicious smelling pork and fruit, vegetables, and corn sides. The last of the stores from the winter, getting put to use before it rots with the warming ground temperatures. She turned and made her way over to the dining area, which was a hodgepodge of chairs and upturned barrels for tables. She spotted Gendry sitting alone at one such table with an empty chair next to him. She walked over and sat down before saying, “Mind if I join you?”

“Not at all ma’am.”

She rolled her eyes, “Arya, please.”

He nodded and smiled at her, “Enjoying your first planting festival so far, Arya?”

She blushed a bit at hearing her name from his lips, “I have only walked through it, but it was larger and more elaborate than I was expecting.”

He took a bite of his pork and swallowed before saying, “There will be dancing later.”

She took a few bites of her own before saying, “Was than an offer Mr Waters?”

She enjoyed watching him blush before he answered, “If you would like it to be, but I would warn you, I am not very good.”

“I am not either, we can be horrible together.” She assured him and they ate the rest of the meal in silence, with little smiles exchanged when one would catch the other’s eyes.

She had never felt an instant attraction to someone like this before. She had kissed a few people while out at bars, but it had never even escalated to anything worth exchanging numbers for. She let people think what they wanted to about her at her job, the other people at the call center were always oversharing about their lives. She had no such trouble, she answered questions when directly asked but she reserved the right to answer if it was something too personal. They were not friends, they were only coworkers, and they did not get access to her life. She didn’t miss a single one of them. She liked the people she met in Acorn Hill, they were genuine in their actions, and when they spoke to her, she didn’t feel like they were doing just to find out her flaws. 

She was pulled from her thoughts when Mayor Smallwood got up and called for attention, “Gathered friends. We are here to celebrate winter’s retreat and greet the returning spring. Enjoy the food and the company, and let us all pray to the gods for bountiful harvest.”

A little band started playing up, just jovial dancing songs that Arya had never heard before but the beat she understood. She noticed some of the younger couples started dancing around in the roped off area for the dance floor. She turned to Gendry and gave him an encouraging smile. 

He nodded and got to his feet, “May I have the pleasure of this dance m’lady?”

She placed her hand in his offered hand, “That isn’t better than ma’am.”

He shrugged, “I don’t know, I think it suits you.”

She didn’t reply as he spun her onto the floor before pulling her back to him. His hands gently resting on her hips and her own came to rest on her shoulders, they were the respectful distance apart. It was the best dance of her life.

* * *

They started finding more and more excuses to see each other. He’d ask her to join him for lunch after church on Sundays. She started showing up at his shop with lunch for him and Sandor. He offered to teach her how to ride, he had his own horse by the name of Fury. She had never felt more alive than she did on the back of the animal, running through the fields that surrounded the town. 

Sandor tried to dissuade her relationship with Gendry, calling her a fool for engaging in something that would eventually have to end. She did not feel like that way, she needed to continue to live her life, even if that life wasn’t her own. At night, she prayed that the car was never repaired, she didn’t want to go back. 

Gendry lived in the loft above his shop, he had it fully equipped for living. There was a large bed, covered in quilts for warmth. A set of trucks and a wardrobe. A high table upon which sat a pitcher and bowl for quick washing, she knew the tub was downstairs. It stretched for half the building, with a large wood burning stove in the middle for cooking and heat. She had found it cozy the first time he had taken her up there, while Sandor remained downstairs to ensure nothing got improper. She didn’t mind, Gendry was always the perfect gentleman. It was a refreshing change from the men she knew in 2019 who just wanted to get drunk and stick their tongue down her throat. 

The second time she went up there, Sandor did not know about it. She wanted to surprise Gendry by making him one of his favorite meals, beef stew. His mother used to make it for him as a child whenever she had some extra money to buy meat, but she never had enough for steaks, so she’d get the clippings. She used some money she had been saving for another dress and purchased all the ingredients. She snuck up while he was busy shoeing a horse for the carriage driver and got to work. By the time he was done with the horse and she heard the carriage take off, the stew had been going for a few hours. She heard his heavy steps coming up the stairs and turned to greet him.

His blue eyes were full of surprise, “What are you doing up here?”

“I wanted to surprise you. You said it was your birthday today.” She said with a shy smile. She wasn’t sure why he made her so nervous, usually she was full of confidence. 

“You remember that?” He said and moved closer to her and then caught the scent of the stew, “What are you making?”

“I am trying to make you a beef stew. I have never made it before in my life, so I cannot promise it will be any good.” She said and lifted the lid of the pot for him to get a better scent. 

“Certainly smells right.” He replied.

She smiled, “Good. I had to ask Mrs Johnson for a recipe.”

He laughed, “Everyone will know you made me a stew by the end of the day.”

“Is that a bad thing?”

He shook his head, “Not at all. I have been meaning to ask you something though?”

She cocked her head, “What?”

“I would like to, officially, begin courting you.”

“Courting?” She asked and bit her lip, she had learned what that was. It was like dating but with the end goal being marriage, it was a big deal. She knew what she should say, what Sandor would want her to say, but she just found herself nodding instead.

“Truly?” He said and grabbed her hand.

She nodded her head and gave him a smile, “Truly.”

He leaned down and gave her a quick kiss on the lips. She thought it might have been the most chaste kiss of her lip but also the only one to every leave her blushing. He pulled back just as quickly, “How much longer on that stew?”

She laughed, “Mrs Johnson said to give it at least 4 hours. I have barely been up here one.”

He nodded and tugged on her hand, “Come on then, you can keep me company while I work.”

She followed him happily, even if the stew turned out to be inedible, this was the best idea of her life.

* * *

The next time she an afternoon free, he closes up shop, and saddles up Fury, wanting to show her something. Sandor shots her a disapproving looks as she waits for Gendry but she doesn’t pay the older man any mind, it was his fault she was here in the first place. He takes further out of town than she had ever been, even when they first got there they were only within a mile of the town center. He took her further away and higher up, over the hills with their buried silver, that would be the life blood of the city Acorn Hill would one day be. It takes them over an hour, the pace had been steady, but they finally reach the top of the tallest hill of many that surrounds the town. He jumps down, helping her next, before tying off Fury with a long lead so he can munch on the grass. He then leads her over to the edge and her breath catches as the takes in the sight before her, the entire valley. The early afternoon light is bright as it illuminates all the spring colors before her. The bright green of the fresh leaves and the budding wildflower patches between the sections of farmland, still freshly planted. 

It was one of the most beautiful things she had ever seen. She turned to look at him, he was studying her, instead of the view. She smiled, “This is so wonderful, thank you.”

He nodded, “I love this view, I come up here if I need to get away and think.”

“I am glad you shared it with me.” She leaned up and placed a gentle kiss on his lips.

He was smiling as she moved away, “I also brought us some food, so we can stay up here for awhile.”

“I’d love that.”

* * *

“You can’t keep this up girl.” Sandor’s rough voice drew her attention to the corner of her room, which shared a door with his. 

“Have you finished fixing the car so we can back to 2019?” She asked, throwing her apron on the bench at the foot of her bed.

“Not yet but soon.”

“You’ve been saying that for four months. Until then, I will continue to do as I please.” She replied and turned away from him.

“You are going to break his heart.” She heard him to get to his feet behind her, “Better to do it now before he gets any deeper in love with you. You cannot stay here.”

She felt tears start to sting her eyes and she whispered, “I want to.”

His hand landed on her shoulder, “This isn’t where you belong.”

“I don’t fit in in 2019, but I can fit here.”

“You know the potential consequences, you cannot stay.”

She turned and glared at him, “The consequences according to you. I’ve watched dozens of time travel movies, how do we know which one has the right of it?”

“I am the scientist here between the two of us. I know what I am talking about.” 

She rolled her eyes, “You are the one who got us trapped here in the first place. Great scientist you are.”

He stepped into her space, “I didn’t ask you to come with me. You begged to see the past.”

She didn’t back down, “I guess I placed too much faith that it would work both ways and I wouldn’t be trapped in the 19th century.”

He shook his head and walked to his door, “When I have that car running again, we are _both_ leaving. Better start getting used to the idea.”

“I am not a child.” She spat after him.

He turned to her, “Then stop acting like one.”

The door shut before she could respond but she continued to glare at the wooden object. He had no right to tell her what she could and could not do. He was not her father, or even the uncle they pretended he was. He was just a man who had been renting out a room in his house and she’d taken him off on the offer. She was eighteen then, and now four years later he was still treating her like a teenager. As she finally turned away and started getting ready for bed, she couldn’t help but think that she was so angry because he was right, and she hated that.

* * *

She forgot about Sandor’s warnings as the weeks went on and she fell deeper and deeper for Gendry. She started dreading it when they spent more than a few days without seeing each other and she was sure that he felt the same way. Every day she spent in the Acorn Hill of 1859, the less she wanted to return to the town of 2019. It was just Gendry either, for the first time in her adult life, she had friends. She never got along with the people her own age in the future, she just had interests that they couldn’t understand. She liked being outside, enjoying nature more than spending hours in front of a television binging the newest fad. She didn’t like drinking to excess every weekend, the few times she had done it had been more than enough for her. She also wasn’t someone who trusted easily so her love life was non existent, a few drunken kisses were all she had to show in that area. Here she had befriended many of the girls her own age, they were many farmers daughters and she found them to be the best teachers for her current life. Her virginity wasn’t even in question here, it was assumed as intact as an unmarried woman, and where she was a firm believer in modern ideas in that area, she liked that she didn’t need to defend herself with them. Mary, Amy, and Samantha became like sisters to her in the short months she had been in town, and the idea of leaving them hurt more than when she ran away from her real family at eighteen.

Gendry even started teaching her how to help out at his shop. First he taught her how to sand and polish. Then the more complicated things, like how to heat the raw metal enough to melt and how to pour it into molds. She didn’t have the upper body strength to proper hammer out the metal into the final products, but she liked that she could be useful. It also allowed them to spend more time together, much to her joy, and Sandor’s annoyance.

Life was harder without all the modern day conveniences but somehow that made things simpler. Everyday she woke up knowing what she needed to do. There was never any thought about what was happening on social media or worrying about if she had remembered to charge her phone. Plumbing and electricity were the only things she missed, but she had gotten used to going without by now, she didn’t need it.

They’d been in 1859 for six months now and autumn was starting to make its presence known. She would need to purchase a coat before the winter snows arrived, though never very much, she knew they still happened to get about a foot over the course of the season. She should look into some new boats too and maybe some long underwear. She would get Amy to help her pick some stuff out, she was being courted by the mercantile’s son, so she could probably get her a good deal. 

“Figured you’d be showing up here soon enough.” Sandor said as soon as she walked into Gendry’s shop.

“I always come by in the afternoons.” She replied and looked around, frowning, “Where is Gendry?”

“Got called away. Which is good, because we have something to talk about.” He stated and walked closer to her, “It is finished.”

“What is finished?” She asked but she felt her heart stop.

“The car. I got it running, the time circuits all started up, just need to charge the battery and we can go.” He told her.

She looked away from, not wanting to see the pity in his eyes, she took a deep breath, “When would we leave?”

“Tonight, once the town is asleep and no one will see.” He explained.

She nodded and briefly thought of running to the shed out back where he’d been keeping the car and smashing it to pieces with Gendry’s hammer. Gendry, she was going to have to leave him, and she couldn’t do it without saying goodbye. She was going to have to break his heart and her own. She’d leave letters with Mrs Johnson for the girls, they would understand she was sure about why she couldn’t say farewell in person.

A hand landed on her shoulder, “I know it will be hard but it what needs to be done.”

She shoved the hand away, “You don’t know how much I hate you right now. Leave me alone.”

“Arya…”

“No!” She rounded on him, pointing a finger into his chest, “I don’t want to hear another word from you, because now I have to figure out how to tell the man I love that he will never see me again. I don’t want to hear one word about timelines and the future or whatever other bullshit you were about to say. Leave!”

He looked about ready to speak again before he turned and walked away. Her eyes drifted around the shop, the large space suddenly seemed suffocating. Fury neighed from his stall, his ears twitching as he watched her. An idea came to mind and she quickly saddled the horse and galloped away, she needed time to think.

* * *

It was completely dark by the time she returned to the shop, and a very nervous Gendry was waiting for her. 

“Are you alright? Where did you go? Why didn’t you tell anyone?” He asked all at once as he helped her put Fury away.

“I just needed to think.” She said, and she knew it was not a good answer.

He grabbed her hands once they were out of the stall, “Did you uncle tell you what I spoke to him about? Was that why you ran?

She shook her head, “What are you talking about?”

“Before I had to go help Anguy with some stuff at his farm, I asked your uncle for your hand, he said that wouldn’t be possible.” He shook his head, “I didn’t have time to discuss it further with him. I worried maybe that scared you off.”

“You want to marry me?” She asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

He tilted her chin up, “I love you, of course I want to marry you.”

Her heart was pounding deep within her chest, she was surprised he couldn’t hear it. Everything in her was screaming to say yes, that she would marry him, but that voice in her head that reminded her Sandor warned her about changing the future. As she looked into his blue eyes, shining with his love for her, only three words came to mind to answer that voice, fuck the future. She leaned up and kissed him, pouring her love into the kiss, “I love you too. I will marry you.”

“What about your uncle? What about your big city life, isn’t it waiting for you?”

She shook her head, “That was never the life I wanted, he can go on without me. I belong here, with you.”

He kissed her again, a deep searing kiss that left her feeling a tightening in her core. He released her lips and rested his forehead against her’s, “You are sure?”

She nodded, “Completely.”

* * *

She was leaning against the car a few hours later, when Sandor walked into the shed. 

He smirked when he saw her, “I was worried for a second I’d have to chase after you. Your blacksmith was frantic about your absence, stole his horse too, ballsy.”

“I didn’t steal it, I borrowed it.” She replied before pushing off the car, “I will not be going with you.”

He threw the blanket he’d been using as a tarp onto the ground, “We have gone over this, you cannot stay here, now get in the car.”

“I am willing to take the risk. I belong here.”

Sandor crossed his arms, “What if I go wake up your blacksmith and tell him the truth? Would he still want you then?”

“I already told him, after I agree to marry him. I brought him out and showed him everything. It was hard thing for him to grasp at first, but I got him to understand.” She replied, not liking how he insinuated that Gendry’s love for her was so fickel.

“The future…”

“Will not be changed by my presence here.” She shook her head, “How about we make a deal? You return to 2019 and if it has been drastically changed for the worse, you can come back and get me. I won’t fight you then.”

Sandor didn’t answer her right away, simply studied her expression for something. The time stressed and Arya was about ready to walk away when he said, “Fine. If you really want to stay in the backwater time, I won’t stop you. But I will be back for you if I think you being here changed anything.”

She hugged him, “Thank you Sandor.” He didn’t return the embrace, but she didn’t mind, she released him. Right before she exited the door she turned and said, “Goodbye, I hope to never see you again.”

He didn’t respond as she walked away into the shop and a few minutes later she heard, for what she hoped was the last time, a car engine roar to life before it disappeared in a flash of light.

* * *

Sandor Clegene had never set out to build a time machine out of the busted electric chair he’d found at a junk yard, that happened by accident. He had hit his head on the bathroom sink one morning 30 years before when he’d been a young man and the time travel circuits had taken root. The car had just turned out to be the perfect vehicle for his dream.

The young woman who had answered his housing ad had just been a means to make some extra money off of rent. He hadn’t expected her to be anymore than a person he occasionally saw but now that he walked into an empty house, her presence could already be missed. The small touches she added to the house were still there but he knew she wouldn’t be. He arrived back in 2019 the day after they had left, when the time circuits had misfired and trapped them in 1859. He took his first shower in six months and then cracked open a cold beer as he rested on the couch. 

The door bell rang, waking him from a nap he hadn’t realized he had taken, and went to answer it. His breath nearly froze as he took in the young woman standing before him, except for the dark hair and blue eyes, he felt like he was looking at Arya.

“Are you Sandor Clegene?” She asked, her eyes shining with amusement.

“I am. Who are you?”

“I’m Arya Waters, pleasure to meet you.” She said and held out her hand.

He shook it, not understanding what was happening, “Why are you here?”

She reached into the bag hanging off her shoulder and then handed him a package, inside the plastic was a package wrapped in brown paper and a string. His name was written in faded black ink. The woman smiled, “I know this might seem weird, but my family has been holding on to this package for generations. My great, great, great, great grandmother asked in her will that one of her descendants deliver this package to a man named Sandor Clegene at this address on this date. My family thinks it is all a bunch of nonsense but I had to see if you would be here.”

He took the package and opened it, letting the plastic and paper fall to the ground. Inside was a book, one clearly originally printed back in the 19th century, the condition was perfect. The title was clear to read, “The Future is in the Past”. He opened it up and on the inside was a handwritten inscription, “Thank you, for everything. Love, Arya.”

He looked at the girl before him, “Your grandmother was an author?”

She nodded, “She was very successful, this was her first novel. Though, it isn’t a story is it?”

“Why would you say that?”

The woman smiled, “Things are almost exactly as she said they would be, from how she described the town, to cell phones, and television habits. All too much of a coincidence. Besides, you being here, exactly where she said she’d be is too much of a coincidence.”

“Maybe she was physic.” He replied.

The new Arya shrugged, “Maybe, but I like thinking she was a time traveler. It was nice to meet you Sandor. Have a good day.”

He watched her walked away, her long dark hair swaying as she went. She stopped at the door of her red sports car, waving before she got in and drove off. He closed the door and went back to the couch and his now warm beer. He settled into the cushions and opened the book again, he wanted to see what she had to say.

**Author's Note:**

> I used Back to the Future part 3 as inspiration for this.


End file.
